BANGLADESH Nationalist Party chairperson Khaleda Zia’s demand … for disbanding the Rapid Action Battalion is intriguing, not least because the so-called elite anti-crime unit … was commissioned in 2004 during the tenure of the BNP-led government. According to a report … the former prime minister also accused the battalion of being involved in killing and enforced disappearance and said the police, if trained adequately, can effectively maintain law and order.

It is true that the battalion has apparently employed extrajudicial murder as a tactic to contain crime since its inception. But, it is also true that Khaleda Zia did turn a blind eye then to such flagrant violations of human rights despite widespread criticism. … Such indulgence has also been given to the battalion by subsequent governments. … During the previous tenure of the Awami League-led government, extrajudicial actions, especially enforced disappearances, by RAB members … marked an alarming rise. However, the solution that Khaleda Zia has suggested … is unlikely to bring substantial changes. … First of all, the police have themselves been accused of perpetrating the same crimes that the battalion is allegedly guilty of.

…[W]hat is needed is to keep the law enforcers [on a] tight leash so that they do not stray to the other side of the law. … — (May 13)